Tributes as Padiham Olympic hero dies, 92 (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Tributes as Padiham Olympic hero dies, 92

5:00pm Wednesday 11th February 2009 in

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TRIBUTES have been paid to an Olympic cycling hero from Padiham who has died at the age of 92.

The death of Harry Hill, part of the 4,000m pursuit team which secured bronze in the Berlin games of 1932, brings an end to a cycling odyssey.

His fellow team members Ernest Mills, Charles King and Ernest Johnson had already passed away.

Harry, a great-grandfather who lived in Radcliffe, died of pneumonia at Bury's Fairfield General Hospital on Saturday, after suffering a fall the previous week.

His wife Daphne died in 2000.

Olympic cycling ace Steven Burke, from Colne, secured bronze recently in the Beijing games but for Harry, there was no airconditioned velodromes in which to practise.

His son, Hedley Hill, said: “He remembered that there was nowhere to train in Berlin, so he had to ride on the ordinary roads.”

After the Olympics, Mr Hill broke a world record when he became the first person to cycle 25 miles in 60 minutes on an indoor track in Milan, Italy, in 1937. He turned professional and broke the British hour record in 1939.

But the Second World War ended Mr Hill’s professional cycling career when he moved to Barrow-in-Furness to help build submarines. Shortly after the war he married Daphne and opened a garage business with his brother, Robert, in Bowlee, near Middle-ton. Mr Hill moved to Radcliffe in the ‘40s and bought his own business but he still cycled daily and competed as an amateur with Middleton Cycling Club.

At the age of 80, Mr Hill attempted to equal his own world record. He completed 23.5 miles, falling just 1.5 miles short of the distance he achieved as a 21-year-old.

He gave up cycling in 2002 after falling off his bike and fracturing his hip.

In March, 2005, he met the Queen, Prince Philip and Princess Anne at Bucking-ham Palace at a reception celebrating 100 years of the British Olympic Association.

Hedley added: “It was a real occasion for him to go to Buckingham Palace and meet the Queen.”

Harry's funeral is at 12.15pm on Monday at Bolton Road Methodist Church, Radcliffe, followed by a burial at the town’s cemetery.

He leaves five children, nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.